The Magic Update!

So it looks like there’s a whole host of news coming out about Magic the Gathering right now – just as I’m getting back into playing the game after my winter hiatus! To start with, let’s talk the next set, Amonkhet!

This looks far too awesome for words! Liliana on Amonkhet, the home plane of Nicol Bolas? Well, I’m sold!

I’m very excited about this stuff, even though the idea of more gods feels like it might be a re-run of Theros. But I wasn’t really around for Theros, it rotated not long after I threw myself under the Magic bus back in 2015. So it could be really cool to get in on this stuff from the off…

The Planeswalker decks for this expansion feature both Gideon and Liliana, which I’m surprised by, as both have had very recent Planeswalker cards in Oath of the Gatewatch and Eldritch Moon, respectively. What’s more, the artwork in the article also shows Nissa, who also had a new card in both of the previous blocks. I was expecting for sure we’d be getting the evil dragon guy in this one, but maybe he’s coming out in the second set, Hour of Devastation. It seems like an interesting time, at any rate!

Am I the only player who dislikes full-art lands? Well, possibly. They do look nice, don’t get me wrong, and I love the fact that each one has the looming horns of Nicol Bolas in the distance – that, and the fact he isn’t one of the Planeswalker decks, make me wonder if this set is going to be more about anticipating his arrival rather than anything more. As beautiful as the art is, I’m relieved that it will only be one in every four packs that has full-art lands – I’d like one of each, but I don’t want to be playing with these cards, as I much prefer the regular lands. I bought all the Battle for Zendikar intro packs in order to get a good stock of the regular art lands, after all!

I’ve never played Archenemy, but the Professor at Tolarian Community College made a video about it back in the day, and it sounds like a lot of fun, so I’m definitely looking forward to seeing more of this! With all of this Nicol Bolas stuff going on right now, it looks like M13 all over again!

Archenemy comes with four 60-card decks that don’t feature any new cards, so it’s going to be interesting to see just what’s coming out here.

We’ve still not got anything for next month’s Duel Deck, Mind vs Might, and while I think it’s probably likely one half is going to involve Jace, I did have the thought recently that we might be surprised and get something completely unexpected, such as Sen Triplets, so I’m cautiously looking forward to this one. I do enjoy Duel Decks, at any rate!

Definitely feels like an exciting time to have gotten back into the game!